This invention relates generally to the art of gravity conveyors, or chutes, which are often used for dropping trash from tall construction sites, such as buildings, in a controlled manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,403 to McDermott describes a rectangular-in-cross-section gravity-conveyor chute section having a side opening in a front panel thereof with a rotatable door/ledge assembly mounted thereat. The door/ledge assembly includes a ledge which can be moved between a closed position, flat against the front panel, and a laterally-extending position in which it forms a ledge below the side opening. U.S. Pat. No. D296,834 to McDermott also depicts a gravity-conveyor chute section with a side opening and rotatable door/ledge assembly, but in addition thereto, depicts a bottom, offset, section in FIG. 15 for changing the direction of items falling through a bore of the chute. The offset section disclosed in McDermott U.S. Pat. No. D296,834 includes a vertical upstream portion which is attached to a downstream, offset, portion. In this regard, both the upstream portion and the downstream portion form bores which are serially connected, but the bore of the downstream, offset, portion is at an angle to that of the upstream portion. The reason such an offset assembly is often necessary for a gravity conveyor chute is to discharge materials away from buildings on which the chutes are mounted. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide an offset assembly for a gravity-conveyor chute which can be mounted at the lower end of the gravity-conveyor chute for discharging materials from the chute away from a building on which the chute is mounted.
A difficulty with most prior-art offset assemblies for gravity-conveyor chutes is that the positions of their downstream openings are fixed relative to vertical bores of the chutes. In this respect, it is not always desirable to have materials exiting from chutes at fixed distances from buildings, but rather, it is desirable to be able to adjust the positions of downstream openings relative to vertical sections of chutes. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an offset assembly for a gravity-conveyor chute for which the position of a downstream opening can be adjusted.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an adjustable offset assembly for a gravity-conveyor chute which is durable, easy to mount, and relatively inexpensive to construct.
Further, it is an object of this invention to provide such an adjustable offset assembly for a gravity-conveyor chute which can be easily adjusted for changing the position of a downstream opening thereof.